By-passing door closer

ABSTRACT

DOOR CLOSING MEANS FOR BY-PASSING DOORS ON CABINETS, CLOSETS, STORAGE CHESTS AND THE LIKE IN WHICH AT LEAST A PAIR OF DOORS MOVABLE IN BY-PASSING RELATION ARE RESILIENTLY URGED INTO CLOSED POSITIONS BY A COMMON CLOSING DEVICE WHICH OPERATES TO ALLOW EITHER DOOR TO BE MOVED TO OPEN POSITION.

NOV. 9, 1971 TUHRQ 3,618,262

BY-PASSING DOOR CLOSER Filed March 13, 1970 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 /5a.w l

was fine INVENTOR 20 ml ALBERT P. TUHRO BY 4M ATTORN EYS Nov. 9, 1971 A. P. TUHRO BY-PASSING DOOR CLOSER 2 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed March 13, 1970 PIC-3.4

FIG. 5

/fa/ K INVENTOR ALBERT TUHRO I 11/ M.Mz

ATTORNEYS United States Patent O1 ice 3,618,262 Patented Nov. 9, 1971 3,618,262 BY-PASSING DOOR CLOSER Albert P. Tuhro, St. Louis, Mo., assignor to Southern Equipment Company, St. Louis, Mo. Filed Mar. 13, 1970, Ser. No. 19,291 Int. Cl. Ed 15/06 US. Cl. 49-404 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE 'Door closing means for by-passing doors on cabinets, closets, storage chests and the like in which at least a pair of doors movable in by-passing relation are resiliently urged into closed positions by a common closing device which operates to allow either door to be moved to open position.

BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to door closer means of simple, unique and effective operation to resiliently urge both doors of at least a pair of by-passing doors toward closed positions without hampering the individual opening movement of either door.

Door closer means heretofore known have not possessed the ability to operate on at least a pair of doors to generally return both doors or either door, to closed position through the action of a device common to both doors. It is, therefore, an object of this invention to apply a closer device to at least a pair of doors and achieve door closing operation to either door through the action of such closer device.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a door closer device which embodies a pre-stressed operator of stored energy character connected to one of a pair of doors and operatively detachably connected to the other of such pair of doors so that upon movement of the doors in by-passing directions the stored energy will be effective to return the doors to closed positions.

Other objects of this invention will be set forth in the following description of a preferred embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAVVI'NGS The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a cabinet having a pair of by-passing closure doors, the view being illustrative only of the general principle of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged and fragmentary elevational view of the doors of FIG. 1 as seen from the interior of the cabinet, with only so much of the doors shown as will serve to explain the operation of the closer device;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the doors with the closer device in its position holding the doors closed;

FIG. 4 is a transverse section through the supporting track for the by-passing doors; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of a three door assembly showing a modification of the preferred embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DOOR CLOSER In FIGS. 1, 2 and 4 the cabinet includes vertical door framing end members '11 and 12, a bottom horizontal framing member 13 which embodies the usual guide tracks (not seen) for the doors 14 and 15, and a top horizontal framing member 16 having track means 17 therein for supporting the roller elements 18 by which the doors 14 and are operatively supported in the track means 17. The frame 16 is suitably stiffened by angle member 16a. Suitable recessed handle plates 19 are mounted in the front surfaces of the doors. In FIG. 1 the door closer device 20 is seen in broken outline as it is concealed from view when looking at the cabinet doors 14 and 15 from the front. The doors 14 and 15 are mounted so that they are in by-passing relation with the door 14 in a plane in front of the door 15. In this installation (FIG. 1) :door 14 moves to the left in front of door 15 for opening the right hand half of cabinet 10, and door 15 moves to the right behind door 14 for opening the left hand half of cabinet 10.

In FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 it can be seen that the upper margin of door 14 has a vertically projecting flange 21 which provides a suitable surface on which the supporting rollers 18 may be connected by the roller brackets 22. "In a like manner door 15 has a vertically projecting flange 23 which provides a suitable surface on which the roller supporting brackets 22 may be mounted. The rollers 18 and brackets 22 are substantially alike and are effective to carry the doors in pendent positions for horizontal movement along the roller tracks 17. There are a pair of such tracks 17 in side by side relation as the rollers 18 for door 14 must pass the rollers 18 for the door 15. The tracks are located within the frame member 16, which latter member is shaped as an inverted U so that the rollers 18 are retained therein or are behind it for concealment. This is a usual construction and needs no further description. It is, however, important to point out that the depth of the tracks 17 is such that the rollers 18 can be lifted out of the tracks for removal of the doors or for initial mounting of the doors during manufacture.

The closer device 20 is seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, and includes the following components: a U-shaped keeper element 24 is secured to a support arm 25 by its base 26. The support arm 25 is carried by a mounting plate 27 attached by elements 28 to the inner surface of door 15 such that the arm 25 thereof laps the edge 15a of door 15 and assumes an angle of about 45 to such edge. The keeper 24 is formed with vertically spaced walls 29 and 30 which project outwardly from the edge 15a in the plane of door 15. A pre-stressed spring coil 31 is freely seated in the keeper between the walls 29 and 30, and one end 32 of the spring coil 31 is secured by element 33 to the adjacent inner surface of door 14 close to the exposed edge 14a thereof. Since door 14 is in front of door 15 and laps the edge 15a of door 15, the closer device 20 is fully concealed from view.

OPERATION OF THE CLOSER DEVICE The spring coil 31 being pre-stressed to always coil upon itself, it constantly presses upon the keeper base 26 to drive the door 15 toward closed position. The action of the spring coil 31 on the keeper base 26 has an equal reaction on door 14 through the pull exerted at the end 32 secured to door 14. Thus door 14 is moved to its closed position, whereby the doors 14 and 15 are constantly urged to move to the positions seen in FIG. 3.

If door 14 only is to be opened, its edge 14a must move rightwardly in FIG. 3 and this pulls on the spring end 32 to cause the spring coil 31 to unroll in the keeper 24 and along the adjacent surface of door 14. The spring coil 31 has a sufficient number of turns so that its extension will leave several coil turns in the keeper 24 for initiating the re-coiling 'action upon release of the door 14. The re-coiling action pulls door 14 leftwardly into its closed position. In like manner, movement of door 15 leftwardly to open the cabinet will result in the spring coil 31 unrolling against the inner surface of door 14, and on release of door 15 the re-coiling action will push on the keeper base 26 to reclose door 15.

On removal of either door from the supporting track 17 the spring coil 31 is easily slipped out of its keeper 24 since it has no axle, but is freely mounted in the keeper to roll on the base 26. The angle of the base 26 maintains the spring coil 31 in abutment with the adjacent inner surface of door 14 and the spaced keeper walls 29 and 30 guide the coil 31 during its unrolling and rerolling action.

MODIFICATIONS OF THE INVENTION The foregoing embodiment illustrates the underlying principle of the closer device as applied to a pair of bypassing doors for returning the doors to closed positions. The closer device 20 may be applied to a cabinet having three doors in which each door controls access to substantially one-third of the cabinet interior. In this arrangement, the opposite end doors 15a and 15b are suspended by rollers 18 in the same longitudinal track 17 and the center door 14a is suspended in a separate track 17 so it may move in either direction to lap over the end doors 15a and 15b.

A first closer device 20a has its keeper 24a carried on the iner end of door 15a with the end 32a of the spring coil 31a attached by a pair of elements 33a to the inner surface of the center door 14a. Similarly, a closer device 20b has its keeper 24b carried on the inner end of door 15b with the end 32b of the spring coil 31b attached by a pair of elements 33b to the inner surface of the center door 14a at the end opposite the location of the device 20a. It is necessary to use a pair of attachment elements 33a and 33b for the spring coil ends 32a and 32b respectively to keep the spring coils 31a and 311) from getting out of alignment with the respective keepers 24a and 241).

In the three door assembly, Opening of the center door to the left will uncoil the spring 31a and will cause the spring 31b to disengage from keeper 24b. The return movement of the center door will move spring 31b to reengage in keeper 24b. Opening operation of either end door 15a or 15b will actuate the device 20a or 20b in the manner described in FIG. 3. If the spring coils 31a and 31b are balanced to approximately the same door closing loading it may be that on opening an end door the center door will tend to move with it, thereby actuating both closer devices. This concurrent opening movement of two of the three doors will not adversely affect the device as the closing operation of each will remain unaffected.

What is claimed is:

1. In a by-passing door installation; at least a pair of doors movable between open and closed positions in bypassing relation to each other, said doors in the closed positions having overlapping marginal portions, and closer means operatively connected to said doors adjacent the overlapping marginal portions, said closer means comprising a pre-stressed coil spring having a body coil and one end projecting from said body, means securing said one end to a marginal portion of one door between said doors, and a spring body coil keeper carried by a marginal portion of the adjacent door, said keeper supporting said spring body coil and having a base directed at an angle to the plane of said adjacent door to press said spring body coil toward said one door, and said spring body coil being removable from said keeper but remaining connected to said one door by said one projecting end.

2. In combination with at least a pair of doors having normally overlapped margins when in closed positions and movable into more fully overlapped positions when in opened positions, door moving means to retain said doors in normally closed positions and to return said doors to normally closed positions from said opened positions, said door moving means comprising a spring motor consisting of an initially coiled flat spring strip unwindable to an extended length to accommmodate the travel of said doors to opened positions and being pre-stressed to normally wind up upon itself and form a body coil with one end projecting from said body coil, said projecting end being connected to one of said doors between the overlapped margin thereof such that said body coil is disposed edgewise adjacent the overlapped margin of said other door, and body coil keeper means connected to said other door to support said body coil in operative position said keeper means being formed with a base surface directed at an acute angle to said one door whereby said body coil pushes on said base surface and is caused to remain in the angular space between said base and said one door to exert a closing push on said other door and to exert a closing pull on said one door through said one projecting end.

3. The combination set forth in claim 2 wherein said keeper means for said body coil of said spring motor includes spaced walls projecting from said base surface to loosely receive said body coil therebetween.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,895,779 7/1959 Bender 1677X 3,334,444 8/1967 Hargrove 49-404 3,452,480 7/1969 Foster 49-445 KENNETH DOWNEY, Primary Examiner 

